Englander and Vinocur v. Recaro Child Safety, LLC

Citizen enforcers Laurence Vinocur and Peter Englander’s allegations against defendant Recaro Child Safety, LLC (“Recaro”) in the case Englander, et al. v. Cheyenne Industries, LLC, et al. were resolved on October 2, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this enforcement action, Englander and Vinocur brought allegations against thirteen different furniture companies alleging Proposition 65 violations, including Recaro.  They alleged that Recaro sold upholstered strollers and car seats with foam padding containing tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and/or tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Recaro agreed not to sell any strollers or car seats in California after March 31, 2014, unless the products contain no more than 25 parts per million each of TDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Recaro agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 15, 2013, and instruct them to provide strollers and car seats that comply expeditiously.  Strollers and car seats currently existing in Recaro’s inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Recaro provide written certification that all strollers and car seats sold in California after November 1, 2013 qualify as reformulated, Vinocur and Englander agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Vinocur and Englander provided a credit for extending reformulation, among other credits available, if Recaro should provide written certification that all strollers and car seats sold in California contain no more  than 25 parts per million of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (“TDBPP”) by March 15, 2014.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $136,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblowers Vinocur and Englander and their counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.